Grand Blanc seeks funding to turn old golf course into park

Posted by Admin July 25, 2024 Golf

GRAND BLANC, Mich. (WNEM) – New life may be coming to a Genesee County golf course that has sat vacant for three years.

Right now, it’s a boarded up property with overgrown grass and trees, but the city of Grand Blanc could be one step closer to achieving its vision for a brand new park.

“One of our goals set a long time before I was mayor or on city council was that we’d have a park within 10 minutes walking distance of every resident in the city,” said Grand Blanc Mayor John Creasey. “This would reach that goal for us.”

Plans to purchase property from the former Jewel of Grand Blanc golf course on Perry Road could soon become a reality.

“The south side of the Jewel is a perfect area for a park,” Creasey said.

The city of Grand Blanc applied for two big grants that could help with the price tag for the southern part of the former course, which closed in 2021.

City Manager Wendy Jean-Buhrer previously told TV5 it would cost about $600,000 to rehab the now overgrown land into a park.

Previous coverage: Grand Blanc considers buying closed golf course to turn into park

“The one grant is the state of Michigan EGLE, so that has a max of $500,000 and we applied for that max, and that’s for individuals that have a low environmental justice rating in areas. Where the Jewel is, it has a high environmental justice score, so that means it would be able to access more funds,” she said.

The second is a $2 million grant from the state of Michigan Department of Natural Resources Land Acquisition.

“With those two grants, there really will be no cost to city residents,” Jean-Buhrer said.

Jean-Buhrer said it’ll take time to find out if they’ll be awarded the funding.

“One of the grants is Aug. 31, and the other grant, we should know in the next couple weeks if we get to the next step of the application,” she said.

For now, it’s a waiting game.

“We hope that those grants do come through, but if they don’t, we have a back-up plan and we’re looking at other ways to fund that purchase,” Jean-Buhrer said.

She said they hope to finish negotiations for the property and finalize plans by next spring.

Subscribe to the TV5 newsletter and receive the latest local news and weather straight to your email every day.